Bifurcations and chaotic dynamics in a linear switched reluctance motor

This paper presents first computed results of a switched linear variable reluctance motor showing nonlinear phenomena as bifurcations and chaotic dynamics. Performances of two models of the motor, operating in open loop, are compared by the mean of bifurcation diagrams and Poincare sections. The first one is a permeance model based on the flux tubes method. It is accurate but complex. The second one is simplified by using a harmonic method. The objective of this study is double. In a first time, the precise model is used to point out bifurcations and chaos. Then, qualitatively similar results obtained from the simplified model are presented to prove that non linear dynamics arise from the main non linearity of the motor and do not result from some details of motor manufacturing.